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tv   The Situation Room  CNN  April 22, 2013 2:00pm-4:00pm PDT

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aed hands of my colleague wolf blitzer. >> breaking news we're following. jake, don't leave. i need your help. we're taking a closer look. one week exactly after the bombings ripped through the boston marathon, ripped into the heart of this city, the fbi is now returning control of boylston street back to the city of boston. let's go straight to cnn's ashleigh banfield. she's on boylston street. i know the mayor will be there. there's going to be some other local officials. this is a major moment right now because this street had has been closed for a week. it was the scene of the investigation, this is where those two bombings took place exactly a week ago, and there's no doubt that people here are anxious to try to get back together to some semblance of normality, normalcy if you will, and people are anxious to make sure that boston is coming back. this will be a symbolic event right now, and we're watching it
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very closely. jake tapper is watching it together with us. we've been here now for a long time. >> for a week. >> the mayor of boston, who is in a wheelchair -- he had some severe health-related issues -- he's going to be presiding over this symbolic moment, but it's going to be done in stages as they return boylston street where the bombings occurred back to the city of boston. the fbi determined it was a crime scene. they needed to investigate. apparently now they've completed the investigation. there you see mayor menino being wheeled over to this event right now. you know, he speaks recuperating. he was in the hospital as you know when all of this happened. >> a one-man metaphor tore the town himself. when he was speaking at the service in the cathedral, his struggle to stand up, get out of the wheelchair, talk to the city of boston was very moving in and of itself. he almost symbolized the way the city felt, knocked down and struggling to get back up. >> he certainly did. and he, like the governor, deval
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patri patrick, the police chief, ed davis, a lot of these people have been so reassuring to the community here, and i think the symbolic ceremony we're about to see here is going to furnlgther reassure the folks, yes, it was a terrible, terrible bombing, two bombings actually, that occurred, but it's time for this city to move on. and i think the fbi is ready to see that. certainly the authorities here in boston -- here are more officials coming in, including representatives from the boston police force, led by their police chief ed davis, who's become very, very visible in all of this as well. i believe we'll hear first interest the mayor. he will preside. then ed davis, i assume, will be speaking, representatives from the boston office of emergency management will be here. and federal authorities will be here as well. the fbi taking the lead in this investigation, still is the lead
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in this investigation, but they've determined apparently that they have enough evidence collected at boylston street, that they can move forward and give this part of of the city back to the city. >> and it's been a very momentous day. you had first of all the charges against bomber number two, dzhokhar tsarnaev, filed against him. and then you also, of course, had roughly two hours ten minutes ago a moment of silence honoring the victims of this horrible terrorist attack. chr krystle campbell and lingzi lu, martin richard and of course officer collier. you had a moment of silence for them here in boston and throughout the country. >> the mayor will receive an american flag that flew over the finish line at the boston marathon exactly one week ago. the fbi will present the mayor with this commemorative american flag that has flown at
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half-staff over the boston marathon finish line in a ceremony that we are about to see live here on cnn. and then we are told the city will commence what's being described as a five-phase plan for reopening this street to business, to commerce, to traffic, to passengers, to people just walking along. the first phase will be decontamination and testing, to make sure everything is safe and secure. second phase is structural building assessments, utility coordination, making sure power has been restored. third phase, debris removal, getting rid of all the junk that's accumulated on the streets. phase four, internal building assessments, making sure the buildings are structurally sound. phase five, reentry communications and counseling. jake, on that last issue of counseli counseling, four people are dead, nearly -- at least 200 people were injured, many of them remaining in hospitals in critical condition. there's been a lot of amputations. there's going to be a lot of
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counseling that will be needed to heal this city right now. >> oh, yeah. for members of the media and some people in the country, they will will turn their sights on other issues. but for a lot of people, this is going to be april 16th, the day after the bombing, for years and years to come. i mean, the trauma both physical and mental that people in this city have gone through. we were talking to the police chief in watertown, he was talking about the counseling that his officers are going to have to go through. we were talking to a columnist from t"the boston globe" earlie. he was talking about the counseling that some members of the media are going to need. >> hold on a second of the i want to listen to this ceremony. ♪
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♪ ♪
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>> so they have the flag that was flying at half h-staff over
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this past week at the end of the boston marathon and the fbi now presenting it back to the city of boston. a commemorative moment, the mayor receiving this american flag that flew over the finish line underscoring what is about to happen, this process of returning boylston street where these bombings occurred, these terror bombings, exactly a week ago, bringing this part of boston back to the city of boston. it had been part of the crime scene controlled by the fbi as part of this investigation. ashleigh banfield is on the is scene for us. what's it like over there? >> wolf, it's one of the more unusual public ceremonies in that the public is completely barred from getting anywhere near to the ceremony. i'm a block away from boylston in the sort of same shopping area, new bury street. i'm watching as dignitaries and officials have been driving through the barricades. but the police have been keeping everyone, wlu including the press, at bay and allowing only those involved in the ceremonial
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transfer of the street from the feds back to the boston police. it's a very unusual sishcircumse in that we were approached by a deputy commander here about two blocks away and invited to come and take part in this about 45 minutes ago. and even she was unaware that the press was not going to be allowed. there's a very heavy police presence blocking not only press but the public and everyone is sort of peeking at the flashing police lights that are a block away and wondering if they can catch a glimpse. i can tell you we heard the bap bag piechs warming up in front of us and heard them start their rendition just a few moments ago. just a very unusual circumstance in that no one is allowed to be anywhere close to this ceremony. >> well, you can understand given the security concerns, given the fact that this has been such a horrible, horrible situation in boston. everyone wants to be extra
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cautious right now so they're keeping media, keeping others understandably a block or two away. you see that that flag presented to the mayor of boston. >> wolf, something else we just have been noticing, all of these side streets going into boylston are all blocked off. but occasionally residents who obviously have apartments in this area, they approached the barriers, they bring out i.d., show it to the attending officers, and then the officers actually cross-reference them with sheets that they're holding on their person. so they're not leaving anything to chance, and these residents with shopping bags, some of them coming home from work,s just trying to get to where they live right at the bombing site. but i.d. is not enough. >> ashleigh banfield is on the scene for us. ashleigh, thanks very much. a moving moment here in boston. the 19-year-old dzhokhar tsarnaev lies in a hospital here in boston.
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he's sedated, restrained, hooked up to a ventilator. a judge and a public defender were brought to his room so the surviving bombing suspect could hear the charges against him. those federal charges which could lead to the death penalty accuse tsarnaev of fatally using a weapon of mass destruction. the affidavit gives a detailed time line of the bombings based on video and other photographic images. cnn's tom foreman is join us now 0 with a closer look. they really have provided, tom, a lot of specific details in this affidavit that was released. >> yeah. a lot of things, wolf, that up until now people railroad mainly just guessing at. here's what we know at this point. authorities say that at 2:41 on the day of the bombing both of the brothers had assembled next to each other right down here, a short distance from the bombings. they were standing down in this area together. they weren't there a very long time because precisely at 2:42
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the older brother took off with his backpack headed up toward the start of the race. this image is reversed because of the way the camera is. but in fact he's headed up toward the race according to what authorities say. so what was the younger brother doing? they say that he remains standing in this position until 2:45, and at 2:45 is had whwhen say the younger brother also started heading up the street. but he did not go nearly as far as his had brother went in this process. in fact, what he did is he walked up to another position a little bit further up -- i'm going to bring that up so you can take a better look -- and he had found his brother had gone on well ahead of him. and at that point then he had to settle in himself to get ready for the action that they aapparently had planned here. so what happened at that point? as he's standing here alongside the line and his brother is further up the way, he talks on
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his phone apparently, takes a cell phone photograph as best they can tell, and 30 seconds before the first blast apparently is on the phone speaking to someone. it's not clear who. at that point, then you see the first explosion take place further up the way, right up here, and this is a short distance to the second explosion. for 18 seconds he's been on the phone. the first explosion occurs. he pauses. remember, there was a 12-second pause, and 12 seconds after this, they say, he has now walked away, leaving his backpack behind. and 10 seconds after he walks away, wolf, is when the second blast occurred right down here. so now we have this clear path that we did not have before of both gathering here, one walking on, the second one walking on, and standing here for four minutes waiting until this blast went off, according to authorities, then leaving his backpack and walking away.
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and ten seconds after he walked away, he would only be 20 or 30 feet away, that blast went off, wolf. extraordinary details that we really have not known up until now. >> yeah, they have the videotape. they certainly will release that videotape in a court of law. they've described it in extensive detail. that's going to be powerful, powerful evidence in a potential trial. tom, thanks very much. let's recap quickly the surviving suspect, dzhokhar tsarnaev, now facing federal charges, among them use gd and conspiring to 0 use a weapon of mass destruction rulgting in death. let's bring in our senior legal analyst jeffrey toobin. jeffrey, what happens next? >> what happens next is that the case will be presented to a grand jury. prosecutors will begin presenting evidence, leading to an indictment. i think the process is going to slow down a great deal. remember, this crime was only a week ago. the government is going to have to assemble a lot of scientific evidence trying to tie material
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that could be connected to the defendant, to the bomb itself. this is complicated stuff. i think it's going to be months in the grand jury until a final indictment is ready to be presented probably. and then at that point the case will be presented to a trial judge, and there will be motions and then a trial. >> he now has a lawyer, a public defender, was at the bedside when the federal magistrate read to him these charges. so presumably he was told he has the right to remain silent. what do you expect is going to happen? what will this public defender based on all of your experience, jeff? >> well, this is a pretty easy call. certainly this defense lawyer is going to say, stop talking. there is nothing to be gained at this point, particularly since his cooperation may be the only
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negotiating leverage he has to avoid a death penalty. so certainly there will be two thoughts on the mind of his defense attorney. one is silence from his client, and the second is delay. delay things as long as possible. the country, the commonwealth of massachusetts, boston, everybody is hugely exercised about this right now, but time has a way of making people somewhat less angry, increasing the chances perhaps for a plea bargain or some sort of other resolution to the case. >> so all of that talk of some sort of public safety exception before you give him his miranda rights, all that talk of naming him as an enemy combatant, all of that is moot right now. they've gone forward with the official proceedings. >> well, they may have used the public safety exception, and apparently they were using it to question him, and he responded in some way given his medical condition. but certainly now that he has a
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lawyer, that period, however long it was, is over. and you're right, the enemy combatant thing was a nonstarter from the never going to happen. this is a criminal case in federal court in massachusetts, and that's where it will stay until it's resolved one way or another. >> it's going to take a while. thanks very much, jeffrey. much more on what's going on in this boston investigation coming up here in "the situation room" 0. also, another terror plot released today, new information. canadian authorities announcing the arrest of two men believed to be part of a terror plot to attack a passenger train that may have been heading towards the united states, the plot said to have an alleged connection to al qaeda elements in iran. that according to the canadians. also, more on what's going on in the boston marathon bombings investigation. could the two suspects here have been linked to frorn terror groups? i'll speak with the senior democrat of the house intelligence committee,
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the surviving bombing suspect is charged with federal authorities in his hospital bed with fatal use of a weapon of mass destruction. joining us now is congressman dutch ruppersberger of meyaryla, the senior congressman of the house intelligence committee. thank you, congressman, i know you've been well briefed in what's going on. is it your sense right now that these two brothers, one of whom is now dead, were in fact linked to some sort of terrorist group? >> at this time, wolf, we have no indication. of course, that's one of the big issues. we have our intelligence committee right now, both internationally and internally, getting any information that we can to find out what the motive was for this terrible crime to
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occur. >> the boston police commissioner, ed davis, says that these two suspects may have been planning more attacks down the road. what can you tell us about that? >> i don't think we have any information to that effect other than they did have the type of ammunition needed and their second attack when they killed the police officer and they got into the gun battle. what we're really looking at right now is bomber number one, the older brother who's no longer with us anymore, when he went to russia, did things change? did he become radicalized? when he came back, it looked like the pattern of life with respect to his brother changed. he wasn't getting good grades anymore. but we have to find this out, and we've got a lot of people working on getting that information, checking all of their acquaintances, checking more with russia to find out exactly what happened when he went to russia and came back. but we want to see whether it was just the two of them, what caused this, or was this a
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conspiracy. that's where our focus is right now. >> i want to play for you what republican senator lindsey graham said after the white house announced earlier in the day that the survivining suspec the 19-year-old, would not be questioned as an enemy combat t combatant. listen to this. >> i'm asking this administration to leave on the table the option, if the evidence warrants, to designate this individual as an enemy combatant. what do we know? we know that these two individuals embrace radical islamist thought, that there's ample evidence this was an attack inspired by radical ideology, they were not trying to rob a bank in boston. >> what do you think about that, congressman? >> well, fifrst thing, i respec the senator's point of view, but i disagree. number one, you have to look at the legal aspect of this.
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when that provision that you don't have to give miranda rights is used, that -- you have to show a connection to al qaeda. in this situation, we at this point have no connection to al qaeda whatsoever. so the other issue is, this is an american citizen. when you have an american citizen, you have rights. pursuant to our constitution. at this point, this event occurred in boston, and they were indicted by the courts. and let's talk about the issue. i think you have to take each case as it occurs. i think we've had about maybe a handful of cases tried in military court. i think one was thrown out, another one i think the person went back to yemen. we've had over a thousand terror arrests and terror convictions that were obtained in civil courts, and most of those people are in jail. the underwear bomber, the person who attempted the bombing in times square. so the people in the federal
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courts, they know the system, they do well, the prosecutions are close to 100% if not 100%. but each case you have to look at differently because the whole purpose is to get information before miranda rights, number one, and find out if there are any other terrorists out there who are trying to attack our country. so at this point it's a moot issue anyhow because the charges have been made against the bomber number two, and they're moving ahead with a federal prosecution in massachusetts. >> one final question, congressman. is russia fully cooperating with the u.s. in this investigation? >> well, my concern with russia, there's still a lot of people in russia that have issues with the cold war. but they did make a request for us to check out bomber number one, and that was done. and now we're going to make sure that whatever was done in that investigation, i know that chairman rogers in the intelligence committee we've set a hearing with the fbi and i
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think the senate intelligence committee has also done that. so we'll find out more. but bring it into perspective. there are over a thousand types of these requests from other countries every year. so we looked at it. we're going to ask the questions, what happened, what was the information, did we need to go any further. because the most important thing is, we want to protect again. we are very concerned about the lone wolf, not this lone wolf doesn't mean one, it means a couple of people under the radar where we don't have the ability to get the intelligence because nobody's talking or nobody's giving us information if that cas -- in that case, we need the public to tell us anything suspicious. that's the concern we've had for years about the lone wolf situation. >> congressman ruppersberger, thank you very much for coming in. >> sure, wolf. >> we appreciate your perspective. >> it's really great to see americans coming together and the people of bostoboston. they have their city back, and it's fantastic. >> certainly grow with you on that. thank you. arrested made in what they
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describe adds a thwarted al qaeda-supported terror plot. we're talking about new information about a terror plot unveiled in canada with potential ramifications here in the united states. we'll have details on that. plus, the latest on the boston bombing investigation. 0 create the future... by clinging to the past. and with that: you're history. instead of looking behind... delta is looking beyond. 80 thousand of us investing billions... in everything from the best experiences below... to the finest comforts above. we're not simply saluting history... we're making it. made a retirement plan, they considered all her assets, even those held elsewhere, giving her the confidence to pursue all her goals. when you want a financial advisor who sees the whole picture, turn to us. wells fargo advisors.
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happening now, we're following breaking news. an alleged al qaeda-supported plot targeting a passenger plane thwarted. details on the arrests that have just been answer announced. also, boston bombing suspect
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tamerlan tsarnaev's reported outburst at a cambridge, massachusetts, mosque. what set him off. and was it a sign that he was turning radical? and is there a connection between one of the alleged bombers and militants in his native russia? cnn is on the ground there. we're looking for answers. i'm wolf blitzer. this is a special edition of "the situation room." >> announcer: this is cnn breaking news. >> and the breaking news coming in from canada right now where authorities have just announced the arrest as of two men believed to be part of an al qaeda-supported plot to attack a passenger train, a train potentially heading to the united states. they say the suspects were receiving support from al qaeda elements in iran. we want to stress, though, the u.s. government sources saying this plot is in no way related to the terror attacks that occurred one week ago here in boston at the boston marathon.
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let's go straight to cnn international security correspondent paula newton in ottawa, canada. she has the very latest. tell our viewers what we know about this alleged plot involving al qaeda elements in iran. >> reporter: well, police here saying really that it was a real threat to kill people, to hurt people, but they do stress, wolf, it was not an imminent threat but a real one. they had these men under surveillance for several months, two young men, one 30, one 35. neither are canadian citizens and they have been here for several months. they do say there was a certain amount of surveillance done at the train station to try and determine exactly what kind of character the plot would take. what's key here is they're executing search warrants. those search warrants will show if they do indeed find the elements of any kind of equipment that would have helped in their derailment plan or if they were still in what we call aspirational stages of a plot. and police were very clear with us, wolf, that they still don't
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know that. the other thing, wolf, that's intriguing and interesting, they're saying al qaeda supported and guided from al qaeda elements in iran. they were saying they didn't believe it was in any way state sponsored. but iran and al qaeda not normally two things that go together. i can tell you from intelligence sources here that they have always been worried about iran hezbollah cells. cells that they believe remain in united states and the canada. but al qaeda and iran is a completely different element and we're still trying to gather more information about that. >> where are these two men from, paula? >> reporter: well, we do not have confirmation. it seems that one is from tunisia and one from the united arab emirates. i couldn't confirm the exact location from police today. they did underscore the fact, wolf, that they were not from canada and had not been here a very long time, underscoring the point, again, wolf, that this was not homegrown
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radicalization. we have had examples of that in the recent past. in canada we had two people that were tied to the attacks in algeria in january, but they were from canada, born in canada. this does not seem to be the case. they had come here for either work or for study, and at this point in time police did receive a tip-off, they say, from a muslim community. that's all they would say. that perhaps these two were engaged in some terror activities. they decided to execute on that. what did that mean? that means bugging their mobile phones and perhaps keeping a tap on their computers and home phones as well, wolf. >> paula newton in canada with the latest on the breaking news. thanks very much. i want to underscore no connection between this alleged plot in canada and what occurred here in boston. let's dig a little deeper with our national security analyst peter bergen who's watching what's going on. al qaeda elements in iran, paula makes a good point.
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we know al qaeda has elements all over north africa, all over the middle east. in iran, give us a little perspective when the canadians say al qaeda elements in iran, what are they suggesting? >> well, wolf, for more than a decade now, a number of the top leaders of al qaeda have been living in iran under some form of house arrest. the idea i think was, if there was ever going to be a deal between the united states and iran, right now very unlikely, the iranian regime was sort of keeping these al qaeda figures as some sort of bargaining chip of a grand bargain that never really came. to give you an idea of who these men are, there's a longtime military commander of al qaeda. another was one of bin laden's sons and just recently, wolf, you'll recall the spokesman of al qaeda was brought to new york city to face charges, and it became clear that he had been
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living in iran for about a decade and it was his decision to leave iran and go to turkey, that eventually brought him to a manhattan courtroom in the southern district just a few weeks ago. so these links have been there for a long time. what we haven't seen, wolf, is al qaeda in iran plotting attacks against the united states or against canada or in the west. at least that we know of. we have seen al qaeda in iran authorize attacks in saudi arraiabia against western targe and saudi targets. so this is a new development, but the idea that al qaeda in iran is a new development is not the case. al qaeda has long had a presence there. >> it's interesting that the canadian authorities in making this announcement have been watching this alleged plot now for a year. they thanked the fbi for the fbi's assistance in this investigation. they also noted that this alleged plot involved blowing up a train that may have been coming towards the united
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states. there is obviously very close cooperation between the u.s. and canada, peter, when it comes to any of these kinds of alleged terror plots. >> sure. and, wolf, we've seen in the past somebody from canada trying to get in to attack the united states, a very major plot, a man arrested by u.s. authorities on the canadian border was planning to blow up a bomb at lax airport in the middle of the christmas holiday season back in 2000. so, i mean, there's very good reason for the united states to have good cooperation with the canadians. it's one of the vectors that al qaeda and associated groups have tried to use in the past to attack the united states. and of course there's a long alliance between the two countries anyway. >> peter bergen, thanks very much for that. and now let's go up next, we're tracing the steps of the older bombing suspect in a troubled region of southern russia, and we're taking a closer look into his online links to violent
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islamic militants there. also coming up, growing evidence that the older tsarnaev brother who's now dead held significant influence over his younger brother and was himself influenced by a radical embrace of islam. is right for me. you should try our coverage checker. it helps you see if you have too much coverage or not enough, making it easier to get what you need. [ beeping ] these are great! [ beeping ] how are you, um, how are you doing? i'm going to keep looking over here. probably a good idea. ken: what's a good idea? nothing. with coverage checker, it's easy to find your perfect policy. visit progressive.com today. ♪
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welcome back. i'm wolf blitzer reporting from boston. the suspects in the boston bombings were immigrants with ties to a very troubled region of southern russia. tamra listen tsarnaev who died last week after a gun battle with police returned to russia for a long visit last year, some six months spending time in dagestan, a republic of russia. later, his online activities raised serious questions about links to jihadists on the scene. cnn's nick paton walsh is in southern russia.
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>> reporter: is there a connection between this gun fight involving militants and police in dagestan and one of the boston bombers? the youtube page of tamerlan tsarnaev suggests there might be. he put up a link to a video titthat was removed, but cnn has now found it. it shows this man. ab due due giuliani is the name used by an islamist militant. russian special forces hit the hideout last december, an armored car brought in to kill as many as six militants inside, including doll caught auf, the grisly photos afterward ashowing the heavy hand used to kill them. four months later, the marks remain of the pit for at that time violence fueling militants across this region.
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neighbors told us the young man who once lived here seemed peaceful, ordinary, but in the dust lies a question -- why did tsarnaev's youtube page linked to the rants of the militant who died here? in a town where tsarnaev's father lived and tamerlan visited last year. you can see how intense the violence must have been against this apartment could be the clearest link yet between one of the alleged boston bombers and the violence that's been gripping southern russia. a u.s. intelligence source told cnn the tsarnaev's brother social media accounts are being examined to possible links to extremists in the caucasus in case they reveal the darkest secrets of boston. why did the bombers do it? nick paton walsh, cnn. >> the feds certainly questioned the surviving boston bombing suspect today while he lies sedated and restrained in a
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hospital bed. joining us now is our chief political analyst gloria borger and our national security analyst tom fuentes,s had himself a former assistant director of the fbi. gloria, we know that this 19-year-old has been undergoing some interrogation, some questioning. i know you have been talking to your sources. what are you hearing? >> wolf, what i'm hearing from law enforcement is that he has been questioned since yesterday. and what i am told is there has been what one source called some form of communication between law enforcement and the suspect. that could mean perhaps that they ask him questions in one form or another, our deb feyerick has reported that he can and does nod his head in response, wolf. so they were able to communicate with him even though, as you know, he's intubated, sedated,
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and possibly restrained. so the extent of the communication you have and what you learn from it, i mean, clearly they're asking questions about public safe tty first and foremost about, were there other bombs, is there any other issue that they need to be concerned with? so that would be the first part of their interrogation. >> tom, this is obviously, as gloria points out, not a normal interrogation. huge challenges. take us behind the scenes. how would such a nonverbal interrogation likely be conducted? >> well, they would try as best they can, if he's able to nod and if he can hear them clearly, to formulate as many questions as possible if a yes or no fashion. do you know, was somebody else involved in this? yes or no. do you have explosives hidden in some other location? and maybe they would name where they have recovered explosives and firearms and say, are there
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any other locations, yes or no? was there anybody else involved in this, yes or no? were there any other future attacks planned, yes or no? so as much to the extent they could, they would form 0 it that way. the difficult would be, and if he's capable of writing, to supply a name, if he has a name of another person that may have been involved or should be looked at by the fbi. that would be the way to do that. but for the most part, they would try to just get him to nod or shake his head. >> which potentially could be useful information. gloria, we're also learning more details about that carjacking that both of the brothers did thursday night. what are you hearing from your sources? >> well, according to my sources as well as tom's actually, they did carjack this mercedes suv, and the victim has told authorities that he heard these two speaking in a foreign language, he wasn't quite sure
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what the language was, thought it might have been russian but was not sure, and then he told authorities that he thought he heard a word which phonette ickally sounded like the word "manhattan". what authorities don't know is, a, what that means, b, if the victim of the carjacking actually heard the word "manhattan" or heard something that fa noen phonetically sound like manhattan. so the details on this, wolf, remain pretty vague. >> that could be a huge question if in fact the two were planning on taking whatever explosives they may have had heading toward manhattan or new york. that would have been obviously a horrendous potential situation. we obviously don't know about that. >> right. >> if you had to answer one question, tom, what's the biggest unanswered question you would like answered right now? >> is this the end of it? are there any other plots to do an additional attack that they know of that are still out there?
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any other terrorists that may carry out an additional attack that we're not aware of? or is this it? with bringing one of the two brothers to the hospital and the other one now deceased, is that the end of it? were they all by themselves in this country doing this attack? >> better believe we all want the answer to that question. it's a critical question. guys, thanks very much. when we come 0 back, a moment-by-moment account of that horrific police chase through cambridge that left an m.i.t. police officer dead. my interview with the police commissioner, that's coming up next. [ female announcer ] everything that goes into a lennox system
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investigators are still trying to piece together the horrific events that occurred here early friday morning, leaving one police officer dead and another police officer severely injured. i spoke about that with the cambridge, massachusetts, police commissioner, robert haas. >> first of all, our condolences on the loss of one of your officers at m.i.t. police officer sean collier. i want to speak about him in a moment, but these two suspects lived in cambridge, and you're the police commissioner there. have you been over to their apartment, have you seen what was inside? >> i have not been to the actual address. i've been near there, but haven't been in at all. >> i guess the fbi is going in there, going through it all. >> yes. >> what can you tell us about the weapons that they had? they didn't have a license to own a weapon, did they? >> no, neither one of them had a license. the younger brother, by virtue
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of his age, wouldn't be eligible of getting a license. >> you have to be 21. >> in cambridge. >> he was 19. older one, no record. what kind of weapons did they have? >> i have no idea, it's still part of the investigation. >> they had no authority to buy weapons or have weapons, no licenses, so somehow they've got them. who's investigating that part of the story? >> there's two investigations going on, as you can imagine what took place on april 15th is a federal investigation, then there's also a homicide investigation that's being conducted by the district attorney's office. the state police and our detectives. >> what's your role in this? >> we're very much focused on the homicide investigation that took place in cambridge. >> killing of the m.i.t. police officer sean collier. tell us how that happened? >> we had gotten a report of a robbery at 7-eleven in central square and then a report of an officer shot at m.i.t. officers responded there
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initially thinking the two incidents were connected. we later learned they are not connected to one another. we actually started to conduct our investigation. it was nearly an hour later we then got a report of a carjacking. obtained information from people that went into the shell station and were able to link it up back to what, we think, was the homicide. still very much under investigation. at this point, still suspects in that case, as well. >> where was sean collier, the m.i.t. police officer? >> he was situated beside an m.i.t. building monitoring traffic at the time this incident took place and was there when he was approached and attacked. >> was there any, you know, anything that led to that attack, did he do anything, was he just standing there? >> he was sitting in his police cruiser at the time. it appears the suspects approached from the rear of the cruiser and fired four to five shots into the cruiser. >> do you know what kind of weapons they used? >> no. >> randomly they decided to kill this police officer? >> we don't know the motivation at this point. >> he could be a threat to them,
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that's why they killed him? >> we have no idea. we're hopeful to get some answers. >> another police officer was injured in the course of that exchange, as well. another transit authority -- >> that was later on when there was a pursuit up in watertown and basically they were able to initially corner the suspects and then the m.i.t. -- the mba police officer received his wounds at that time. >> he remains in serious condition, as well. tell us about sean collier, the 26-year-old m.i.t. police officer. >> he's been on the four for 14 to 15 months. he was planning to go to summerville police department as of june 3rd. young police officer, very much involved in the community and the m.i.t. community, very much involved with the homeless shelter in cambridge. he was very committed to the community. very well thought of. very well respected. really had for every intent and purpose, bright future in front of him. >> tragedy. >> great tragedy. >> good men. i assume you've been in touch
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with his family? >> we have. we visited the family. we really deeply feel the loss, m.i.t. police department, we work so closely together. he was part of our training program. we answered calls together, so it's a very tight community and really our feelings and our sympathies go to the family. the m.i.t. community, especially the m.i.t. police are really suffering at this point in time. >> thank you for coming in. best wishes to everyone over there. our deepest, deepest condolences. >> thank you very much. in our next hour, we're learning more about the widow of the suspect number one, tamerlan tsarnaev. just ahead, her reaction to the bombings. stay with us for that. also, an extraordinary moment marking the attacks that occurred one week ago today. you've known? ld n we gave people a sticker and had them show us. we learned a lot of us have known someone who's lived well into their 90s. and that's a great thing. but even though we're living longer,
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the last image showing one of the bomb scenes. happening now, charges filed. boston bombing suspect dzhokhar tsarnaev facing a federal judge in his hospital room. this hour, vivid new details revealed in the complaint against him. plus, the dead suspect's wife, what, if anything, did she know about the bombings before they happened? her lawyer is now speaking to cnn. as boston marks one week since the bombings, authorities in canada say they busted a separate terror plot with an al qaeda connection.
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i'm wolf blitzer in boston. we want to welcome our viewers in the united states and around the world. you're in "the situation room." the first steps toward justice exactly one week after the boston marathon bombings. an emotional day in this city filled with dramatic developments. the 19-year-old dzhokhar tsarnaev now standing a judge with federal crimes, including a use of a weapon of mass destruction resulting in death. he appeared before a judge in his hospital room, where he's in serious, but stable condition. if convicted, he could face the death penalty. one week after the attack, the city of boston has regained control of boylston street, the site of the bombings. the fbi handed it over less than an hour ago.
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memorials are held today for krystle campbell and lingzi lu, two of the people killed in the bombings and the aftermath. we are now also learning exactly how the tsarnaev brothers allegedly pulled off the marathon bombings. federal authorities releasing vivid new details as they build their case against the surviving suspects. our crime and justice correspondent joe johns has been piecing it all together for us. joe, what are you learning? >> wolf, in clinical detail the criminal complaint lays out a sequence of clues less than 15 minutes over a few city blocks, which federal prosecutors allege ended in the worst terror attack since 9/11. according to the complaints, 2:38 p.m. on race day, about 11 minutes before the first explosion. two men are seen walking towards the finish line carrying, quote, large knapsacks. tamerlan tsarnaev, alleged
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bomber one, is walking in front. the alleged bomber two, dzhokhar tsarnaev, now the defendant, is behind. the two suspects are seen standing about a half block away from a restaurant camera. a minute later, bomber one, tamerlan, walks out of the crowd headed towards the finish line, a knapsack, quote, still on his back. at 2:45, alleged bomber two dzhokhar moves towards the finish line. he has the thumb of his right hand hooked over the strap of the knapsack and a cell phone in his left hand. he stops by a metal barrier. he's apparently, their word, slipping his knapsack on to the ground. a photo from across the street shows it at his feet. he stands there for four minutes looking at his cell phone, appearing to take a picture, then the government alleges a deadly final 30 seconds. just before the first explosion, dzhokhar tsarnaev lifts the phone to his ear as if speaking on it.
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for 18 seconds he keeps the phone to his ear. then, just as he appears to finish his call, the crowd reacts to the first explosion. quote, virtually every head turns toward the blast except tsarnaev, who virtually alone among the individuals appears calm. according to the affidavit, he glan t east and starts walking rapidly towards the west, away from the finish line without his knapsack, which he left where he was standing. ten seconds later an explosion occurs and the place where he left the bag. we also learned a little more today about the day the fbi released the video of the bombing suspects. the affidavit by agent daniel jenk described a carjacking the suspects allegedly committed, one of them, not clear who, walked up to a car in cambridge, mass, pointed a loaded car at the driver, said did you hear
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about the boston explosion? i did that. wolf? >> pretty chilling material, joe. thanks very much. the white house says the decision to charge dzhokhar tsarnaev in criminal court, not as an enemy combatant was the right way to go. let's talk about the case with our analyst jeffrey toobin and fran townsend. fran, they did that first appearance of the tsarnaev at bedside today, gave him an attorney, a public defender. what does that tell you specifically? >> well, first and foremost, wolf, it tells us that the public safety exception that they were operating under in order to question him was finished. once they gave him miranda, they understood he would get a lawyer and that would be part of his initial appearance. so they were done. whatever questioning they had done in order to find out were there additional explosive,
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other co-conspirators, whatever they managed to get out of him, the fbi had completed that questioning. presumably once he was advised of his rights and assigned a lawyer, the lawyer would have, first and foremost, told him to stop talking to the fbi. >> tsarnaev, jeffrey, was read his rights by the judge at bedside today. why was that so important, how does that change things going forward? >> well, now his initial appearance, his arraignment is completed and now the case will be turned over to a grand jury. probably within the next 30 days there will be at least an initial indictment and the case will then be assigned to a federal district court judge for a trial. the process at that point is going to slow down considerably. there is a lot more investigating to do. the defense is going to want to do some investigating, and i think if there's a trial in this case, a year from now is
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probably realistic to think of when it might take place. >> in fact, we are, fran, getting some extraordinary new details in that formal criminal complaint that was released by the federal authorities today. they seem to have a lot more evidence against this suspect than previously thought, including a lot of video evidence that was collected. what do you make of this. >> wolf, there's no doubt there's a tremendous amount of additional investigating that the fbi is doing, not only in the united states, but around the world. when you look at the complaint and the sort of overwhelming amount of evidence, you sort of have to conclude that dzhokhar's defense lawyer will be focusing on a potential sort of penalty phase. that is trying to see what he can marshal to avoid the death penalty. this could lead to a plea bargain and a plea deal, but they will still have to contend with, because of the seriousness of the charges, the penalty
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phase, which although the federal government is not set it yet and there's an entire internal justice department process they have to go through, there's a good likelihood that he will be confronted with the death penalty. >> jeffrey, what's interesting about the formal affidavit that was released today and the federal charges that were made public, not including the shooting of that m.i.t. police officer, the cambridge police commissioner told us about that. i take it that must be a separate homicide investigation separate from the federal investigation? what's going on over here? >> well, it's certainly a notable omission for those of us, which is basically everyone, who are now familiar with the story. a couple things could be involved. first of all, a complaint doesn't have to lay out all of the government's case in every possible crime that could be charged. but the other possibility is that murder itself, just murder,
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is usually prosecuted at the state level. the shooting of officer collier may simply not be a federal crime and it may be that the massachusetts authorities will prosecute him for that crime. but those are the kind of decisions that are likely months down the road, but at this point, they are not -- the feds are not charging a violation of federal law in connection with the murder of officer collier. >> if there were state or local charges filed against this suspect, fran, the federal charges take precedence. they will be adjudicated first, right? >> that's right. and as jeff says, look, you could include the murder of the police officer an overt act and conspiracy between the two brothers, for example, or you might, you know, in the discussion between federal and state prosecutors, like in the timothy mcveigh case, the state prosecutors may want to reserve
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one piece of this they can prosecute themselves after the federal prosecution is over. they may want to go back and independently and separately prosecute the murder charge as a state crime. and that will be a discussion, a tactical judgment, between the federal prosecutors and the state prosecutors. >> it's tactical, but it's also political. >> difference between the federal charges -- i just want to say, jeffrey, the difference between federal charges, they include the death penalty potentially. state here in massachusetts, there is no capital punishment. so, that would be a significant difference between federal and state charges, if you will. i want both of you to stand by, because there's some new information coming in. we're going to continue this analysis. also, we're watching another alleged terror plot. this one stopped, we're told, al qaeda-backed terrorists were targeting a train heading towards the united states. and the relationship between the two brothers. how it led to the boston marathon bombings and one brother's death.
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there's growing evidence that the older tsarnaev brother was the leader of the two, influenced by his increasingly radical embrace of islam. brian todd has been looking into this part of the story for us. he's here in boston with me. what are you finding out? >> friends and acquaintances saying the younger brother, dzhokhar, was the follower of the two. we have incidents of the older brother, tamerlan tsarnaev, gave outbursts in his mosque in november and in january. new information on tamerlan tsarnaev's perspective on islam. january 18th, friday prayers at the islamic society of boston mosque in cambridge. a mosque leader is giving a service about the prophet mohammed and martin luther king
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jr. >> some people said that he said something to the effect that you cannot, you know, compare or make a parallel between our prophet and a nonmuslim. some people said that he referred to the person who was giving the sermon as a hypocrite. >> he says the disruption was a clear violation of mosque etiquette and mosque leaders explained that to tamerlan tsarnaev, calmed him down. he said it was the second time he objected to something said at a sermon. the first time, he'd taken a mosque leader aside after the service. we pressed mosque officials, were there any red flags tamerlan tsarnaev had been radicalized? >> unfortunately, there were no indications, and if trained specialists from the fbi were not able to see anything, i'm, you know, i'm sure you can understand how people who are merely acquainted with these individuals, see them spo
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radedly at prayers, would not see anything of this nature, as well. >> mosque officials say dzhokhar tsarnaev never came to the mosque without his older brother. friends and acquaintances tell cnn tamerlan tsarnaev was the leader between the two brothers, one friend saying dzhokhar was, quote, definitely the follower in this situation. john pinto owns a restaurant in the tsarnaev's neighborhood. in recent months he saw the brothers come in, sometimes sitting down, sometimes getting chicken and lamb for takeout. pinto says tamerlan tsarnaev always walked in front of his older brother, swaggering, looking serious and tough. >> the big brother is one in command. okay, let's go. we do this, we do this. whatever. he was always in front. and the other one was behind him. >> it may not have always been that way. rose lifeguarded with dzhokhar tsarnaev in the spring and
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summer of 2011. she said this about the younger brother. >> there was an effort to create some distance between himself and his older brother just because they didn't see the world in the same way. >> neighbors gave us new information on the broader dynamic. this is the top floor of the apartment where the tsarnaev family lived. neighbors say the entire family, parents, brothers, and sisters, lived here together at one point. one neighbor told us he observed tension in the family when they all lived together. it was at this address where tamerlan tsarnaev was addressed in july of 2009 for assaulting his girlfriend. the complaint doesn't show her name but quotes tamerlan tsarnaev as saying, yes, i slapped her. it's not clear what came of that arrest. it's not clear of what came of that arrest. a neighbor tells us that the family dynamic changed, the tensions dissipated after the parents and sisters moved out of the apartment maybe about three years ago. >> i assume the fbi has been
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over at the mosque interviewing people there who knew these two brothers. >> mosque officials tell us some of the leaders of the mosque have been interviewed by members of the fbi. interestingly enough, too, they tell us the night that dzhokhar tsarnaev was captured, people at the mosque volunteered to go over to that watertown location and try to talk him out of the boat peacefully. i doubt anything was followed up, police were there and talking to them at the time, but the people at the mosque volunteered to do that. >> brian todd, thank you very much for that report. this is cnn breaking news. >> all right. we're just getting this in. "the new york times" has just released the transcript of the exchange that a federal magistrate had today at the bedside of this 19-year-old terror suspect over at the beth israel medical center, including the reading of his miranda rights, the reading of the formal charges, the presentation
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of the public attorney that will represent dzhokhar tsarnaev. this transcript is not very long. it's about eight pages, double spaced, but it does show the defendant, the suspect in this case, nodding affirmatively to several series of questions, and at one point when he was specifically asked, do you need a public defender, do you have enough money to pay for an attorney, he said when he was asked about the money part, he said he uttered the word "no," according to this affidavit. you can see there, can you afford a lawyer, the defendant, no. this is a transcript according to "the new york times" that has been released by the united states district court, district of massachusetts, united states v. dzhokhar tsarnaev. let me read to you some of the exchanges that occurred, then. the court, this is the judge who's at the bedside. i will ask the doctor whether or not the patient is alert. you can rouse him. dr. odom, the physician on call
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there, how are you feeling, he says, are you able to answer some questions? the defendant nods affirmatively. that's what he had done in response to several questions, nodding affirmatively. that is the official court transcript that has just been released. jeffrey toobin, our senior legal analyst is here with us. let's go through this, point-by-point. first of all, the notion that affirmatively to some questions about understanding the miranda rights, that he has the right to an attorney, the right to remain silent, as read by the magistrate who was there. that's pretty significant, right? >> this is actually a very routine proceeding in very extraordinary circumstances. first of all, of course, this is a enormously important case, and it's also unusual, though not unprecedented, to do a proceeding like this in a hospital room. but in terms of the substance,
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do you understand the charges, do you understand the penalties, do you need a lawyer, these sorts of things go on in federal court many times every day. >> and we do have the introduction of the public defender. fran townsend is with us, as well. let me bring her into this conversation. the public defender, he's a lawyer, he's a graduate of yale, yale law school. obviously, they brought in someone who's a highly qualified to represent this suspect, fran. >> absolutely, wolf. and what we're learning is he will lead a team of public defenders in representing the defendant here. you know, it's interesting, wolf, we really learned for the first time, we understood that the suspect had these injuries, dzhokhar has these injuries, but what we're learning now is he actually has the ability to speak. it may be limited, it may be to a single word, but that tells you something about when investigators during the public safety exception were questioning him.
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clearly, he nods most times in this transcript, but he does say the word "no," so we know he can speak. and at the end of the transcript, the judge makes the observation on the record that he is competent, he's lucid, and that he's alert. also very important in terms of understanding the defendant's condition. >> if i can just make another point -- >> tom fuentes -- go ahead, jeffrey. >> it's just that william thick is the defense lawyer and not only is he highly regarded, he spent six years working in russia and he's fluent in russian, which i think could come in very handy in the course of this investigation. >> plays a role in this, both of these suspects, including the one, the 19 year old who has survived this whole ordeal, if you will, he was a young boy, only 8 or 9 years old when he came to the united states from russia, but certainly russia plays a role.
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i think we have some more graphics, and i want tom fuentes to come in. now that he's been read his miranda rights, now that he knows he has the right to remain silent, what does the fbi do now, tom? >> wolf, we don't know he could have been read the rights yesterday or at a previous time. we know it's been done here at the hearing, but we don't know at the time he's nodding, getting his miranda rights and appears to be lucid, however, is he still under narcotic drugs, for example, is that still going to be an issue later. can he knowingly wave his rights if he's being treated with the sedation. >> let me read a little bit from the affidavit, from the transcript of these proceedings that occurred. extraordinary proceedings at the bedside of tsarnaev, the 19-year-old suspect. at one point, the good morning, your honor, this is the prosecutor, the u.s. attorney. good morning, your honor, william winerab for the united
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states. mr. thick, who's the attorney that represents tsarnaev. good morning, your honor, william thicke for mr. tsarnaev. the court, that's the judge magistrate, and you have had an opportunity to speak with him. mr. thicke says very briefly, your honor. the judge, so you have your lawyers here? and then the defendant nods affirmatively, according to this transcript. then the judge says, "mr. tsarnaev, i am the magistrate. this hearing is your initial appearance before the court. we are here because you have been charged in a federal complaint. at this hearing, i will advise you of your constitutional and legal rights. i will tell you about the charges against you and the penalties that the court could impose if you are found guilty. you have been charged with, one, use of a weapon of mass destruction in violation of 18 united states code section 2332-a and malicious destruction of property resulting in death in violation of 18 united states
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code section 844-i. mr. winerab, what are the maximum penalties?" mr. winerab says, "your honor, the maximum penalty on each count is death or imprisonment for any term of years or life." then the judge says, "is there a fine?" "a fine of up to $250,000." the judge, "i will tell you about your right -- she's addressing the lawyer and tsarnaev. i will tell you about your right to council, i will consider conditions of release pending court proceedings, that is whether or not you should be detained and what amount of bail should be set. this is not a trial, she says, you will not be called upon to answer the charges at this time. if at any time i say something you do not understand, interrupt me and say so. is that clear?" the defendant nods affirmatively. once again, no words spoken, just nodding with his head. the judge, "all right, i note
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that the defendant has nodded affirmatively. as the first step in this hearing, i'm going to tell you about your constitutional rights. then the judge begins to read the constitutional rights under the constitution, you have the right to remain silent, any statement made by you may be used against you in court. you have the right not to have your own words used against you. you may consult to an attorney prior to any questioning, and you may have the attorney present during questioning. council will be appointed without charge if you cannot afford council, if you choose to make a statement or answer questions without the assistance of council, you may stop answering at any time. this right means you do not have to answer any questions put to you by law enforcement agents or by the assistant united states attorney. mr. winerab, i want to make clear you are not prohibited from making statements, but if you do, she says, they can be used against you. you are not required to make a statement at this initial appearance and any statement you
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do make may be used against you." finally, this judge magistrate says, "if i ask you any questions here in this hearing or at any future hearing which you think might incriminate you, you have the right not to answer. then she says this, to tsarnaev, "do you understand everything i have said about your right to remain silent?" the defendant, according to this transcript, nods affirmatively with his head. the court, this is the judge once again, "again i note that the defendant has nodded affirmatively. as i said earlier, you have the right to retain council, to be represented by counsel, and have the assistance of counsel at every credit cam stage of these proceedings. you have a right to an attorney during any questioning, any lineup, and all proceedings in court. you also have the right to have this court assign counsel if you cannot afford counsel or cannot obtain counsel." then she says this, asks this
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question of tsarnaev, 19 years old, the suspect lying in bed. she says, "can you afford a lawyer?" the defendant, "no." he utters the word "no." he didn't just nod or shake his head, he said, no. the court, this is the judge, "let the record reflect that i believe the defendant has said no." then she says, "i have appointed the federal defender, mr. thicke, to represent you in this matter. at some time he will give you a financial affidavit to fill out. the information you put in the affidavit regarding your financial assets will assist me in determining whether or not you are eligible for the appointment of counsel." i e remind you that the affidavit is filed under the pains and penalties of perjury, which means if the information you put into the affidavit is false, you could be prosecuted for perjury and if convicted be subject to a fine of up to $250,000 and/or five years in jail. in addition, if there is any
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change in your financial status, you have an obligation to inform the court. ordinarily, i would be asking the bail in question." then the attorney, mr. thicke, says this, "i am going to defer that question at this time, your honor, and agree to voluntary detention without precedence." "all right, what is the government moving for?" "your honor, the government moves for the defendant to be detained prior to trial on the grounds this is a crime of violence, on the grounds of this is a crime that carries the maximum sentence of life or death and the defendant may intimidate witnesses if released." the judge, "all right. i note the defendant is entered into a period of voluntary detention without prejudice. do counsel want to be heard on
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any other matters?" the assistant district attorney, "no, your honor." at this point the judge says, "i find that the defendant is alert, mentally competent, and lucid. he is aware of the nature of the proceedings." let me read that one more time. this is the judge. the judge magistrate. "at this time at the conclude of the initial appearance, i find that the defendant is alert, mentally competent, and lucid. he is aware of the nature of the proceedings. all right. we stand in recess." then they just go ahead and stand in recess. the hospital regulations, they talk a little about that, but that is the gist of this proceedings. jeffrey toobin, let me bring you back into this. the judge rules that he is lucid, this suspect, and he was able to answer those questions. so, this is all routine as far as a proceeding is concerned,
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but in this kind of case, as you point out, at a bedside and given the nature of the crime here, it's pretty extraordinary. >> well, it's extraordinary for a couple of reasons, just because of the magnitude of the crime, but also we didn't know when he would be in condition to be arraigned. we had heard various things that he was intubated, couldn't speak, in and out of consciousness, and the judge, the only important finding the judge made in this hearing was that he is, in fact, lucid. he is, in fact, able to understand the charges against him, so that the legal proceedings can begin. the legal proceedings are going to take a long time, but at least the beginning has now taken place and the process can start in earnest. >> fran townsend, at the end of this transcript it says that they have agreed that the probable cause hearing will take
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place 10:00 a.m. on may 30th. the clerk says, how about the 30th of may in the morning, 10:00 a.m. mr. winerab, the assistant u.s. attorney says, that's fine. mr. watkins, the clerk, says that's fine. mr. thicke, the public defender for the suspect, that's fine. the judge says, "i note this delays occasion by the agreement of council. all right." may 30th, assuming he's healthy enough to show up in a courtroom, does he have to appear in court by may 30th, does he have to be physically present for this hearing, this probable cause hearing, fran? >> usually what happens, wolf, is rather than there being a probable cause hearing, that can -- you can get around that, if you will, by presenting an indictment. so, right now what will happen is the government has the choice to do a probable cause hearing and be prepared to do that in front of the judge on may 30th, or they may go in and do an
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initial indictment. go into the grand jury, even present what you see in the complaint, get the return of an indictment, and oftentimes in such a big case with so much additional evidence, over time you do what's called superseding indictments and add more detail in time. but the return of the indictment would forego the need for a probable cause hearing on the 30th. >> that's 100% correct. that hearing will never take place. there will be an indictment rather than that hearing. >> then the probable cause hearing. i do note in the transcript, tom fuentes, i want you to come in on this part. the judge says the defendant, tsarnaev, is now remanded from the custody of the agent's present to the united states marshals service. tom, what does that mean? >> that means that the marshals take control of moving him around once he's ready to be transported out of the hospital.
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they would handle that. and they would be responsible for the day in, day out of security. so, right now it's the equivalent that he's in jail. he's under confinement, he's in custody, he's remanded to their custody. so the u.s. marshals will be responsible for maintaining physical control of him and when he's able, move him from there to a courtroom, to whatever facility they are going to house him in. then whatever courtroom they are going to work, you know, the next hearing in. so, that's just who takes charge of his custody. it doesn't transfer the investigation for them, just transfers the custody of him as a person. >> i understand. i want all of you to stand by. the new york city police commissioner ray kelly is joining us right now from new york. commissioner, thanks very much for coming in. lots of dramatic developments here in boston, separate developments unfolding in canada, unrelated to boston, but potentially linked to new york
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city. i want to get to that in a moment, but do you have any evidence, any reason to believe that these two terror suspects, one of whom is now dead, were actually planning on taking bombs from boston, from this area, to new york, because those suspicions have now been circulated. >> well, i see on your scroll that the new york times has published a transcript of the hospital proceedings. i haven't seen that. i think the question was asked whether or not they are going to go to new york and there was an answer indicating they had some thoughts about it, but it wasn't to do any damage. actually, i think the person who owned the car, the mercedes, said they were speaking a foreign language. he thought that they may have said manhattan, but that's the only information that i have as far as new york is concerned.
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i don't know what's in the transcript. >> the transcript -- we just read it to our viewers, it's simply the judge reading the miranda rights, making sure that the suspect in this case fully understands he has the right to remain silent and all of that. also noting that public defender has been appointed to represent him as attorney. it was just standard stuff like that. no details about the alleged plot. you're right, there was suggest in the car they started speaking in a foreign language and the driver, the person who was hijacked, carjacked, if you will, thought he heard the word "manhattan." what i hear you saying, federal authorities, terrorism authorities, have not said to you anything along the lines these two guys were ready to take a pressure cooker bomb into manhattan or anything along those lines. that has not been conveyed to
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you by authorities. >> absolutely not. not the case. >> what about this other -- what about this other plot that canadian authorities disclosed today that there was an al qaeda plot, al qaeda elements in iran, of all places, working to deal with a train that was going to be going from canada into the united states, maybe to new york. what can you share with our viewers about that? unrelated to boston, but potentially very, very significant. >> let me tell you this, we have been following this case for awhile, but i am not going to say anything that the canadian officials have not said. i think it's up to them to put the information out on this case. so, i'm going to leave that alone. >> fair enough. you're an authority, you know a lot about terrorism. and even a few years ago you were warning of what has been widely described as these lone wolf terrorists who are inspired by various jihadist websites or
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whatever. what is the major lesson that you are learning from what has happened a week ago in boston? >> well, the threat continues as far as we're concerned. we haven't seen the diminishment of this threat, and that's the way we respond. that's how we deploy our resources. we have seen a series of these young disaffected men who become radicalized and there's a study that we did in 2007 that talks about this radicalization in the west. and it shows the process where unremarkable young men go and become radicalized and decide to kill people in their own country. we see that as a constant threat, and that's sort of our operating assumption in new york city. and we haven't been proven wrong, quite frankly. it's fairly consistent. we've had 16 plots here against new york, you know, thank god
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none of them has succeeded. but all i have to do is succeed once, as other people have said, and we have to succeed every day. so, i think -- i'm not certain there's any new lessons here, at least for us. we know the threat is constant and people who are bent on killing americans in big numbers. >> good luck, commissioner. thanks very much for coming in. we know you're working full time on this terror threat in new york, and we appreciate everything you're doing. ray kelly is the police commissioner in new york. up next, the bombing suspect, tamerlan tsarnaev, leaves behind a wife and a small child. did she know anything about this bomb plot? her lawyer is now speaking to cnn. and boston falls silent in a moving tribute to the victims who were killed and injured one week ago. tool with these cool sliders. this one lets us know what happens if we miss a payment. oh. this one lets us know what happens if we use less credit.
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welcome back. i'm wolf blitzer reporting from boston. we're learning more about the widow of the bombing suspect tamerlan tsarnaev, katherine russell's lawyer spoke with cnn earlier today. he says she was in the dark about her husband's alleged role in the attack until she saw it on the television news. chris lawrence spoke to the lawyer. chris is joining us now from rhode island where russell lives with her parents. what's the latest on this very, very sensitive part of the story, chris? >> reporter: basically, wolf, federal agents have been here at the house off and on for the past couple days. we have seen federal agents
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posted down the street at various times and also escorting her from the house earlier this morning to talk to her. basically, they are looking to get an answer as to what she knew about what her husband was doing and if he was involved or affiliated with anyone else besides his younger brother. i spoke with the attorney this morning, and he told me basically she had no idea what was going on. and as for cooperating with the authorities, he told me this, quote, she understands the need for doing it. this is the way the government looks at it and she understands this. it's a threat to national security and she gets that. and she's a really good person, very sympathetic to that. katy's just trying to bring up her daughter. the daughter, of course, refers to the 2 1/2-year-old girl, the daughter of tamerlan tsarnaev and katherine russell. >> what about the reports,
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chris, that she changed, she changed, after meeting tsarnaev? >> reporter: well, the attorney basically said, wolf, she goes by katy. she's pretty young. she just graduated high school about six years ago, and the attorney basically said that she was raised christian, that she converted to islam after she met tamerlan, and that she is fairly observant, that she does wear a head scarf and we have seen pictures and videos of her wearing that head scarf. since all of this happened, she has moved from the apartment right here to her parents' home in rhode island, where she's staying and where her attorney says she is cooperating with the authorities. >> obviously, they have a child. they had a baby. what about the child, what's going on with this young, young child? >> reporter: they don't want to give out too much personal information about the little
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girl other than to say that basically that katherine would work 70, 80 hours a week sometimes as a home maid, and tamerlan, the suspect that was killed, would actually take care of the little girl during the day. now the little girl is staying with her mom and with her grandparents here in rhode island, wolf. >> 3-year-old little girl indeed. thanks very much, chris lawrence in rhode island looking at this sensitive part of the story. meanwhile, an aunt shares some new light on one of the bomb suspects' mysterious trips to russia last year. is that where tamerlan tsarnaev actually became a radical? and one week after the attack, boston reclaims one of its most famous streets.
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the parents of the boston bombings suspects recognize their sons immediately, as soon
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as the fbi released their pictures, that according to the tsarnaev brothers' aunt. she spoke to cnn from her home in the capital of the russian republic of dagestan. nick's joining us now with more on this partrepublic. so what else did the suspect's aunt tell you? >> well, interestingly, she did point out something we didn't know before which is the family fled when tamerlan was just 11 and his formertive part in his life. they ran away from the bombing in chechnya that began in the second war there in 1999. but she also recounts how he returned here last year from the united states and was a devout muslim. she saw tamerlan tsarnaev grow up and then leave. she saw his return come here
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last year as a devout muslim. >> translator: they haven't prayed before. he went to america. nobody taught him. he learned everything himself. at the same time, we were happy about it. because he didn't start doing drugs or alcohol. i doesn't speak to original women. >> she saw him for four of the six months he was here and he went to chechnya twice. >> translator: yes, he went to chechnya for a couple of days. i don't know where those relatives lived. i mean, the relatives from his father's side. >> reporter: as pictures of boston played out around the world, she revealed that she ang the rang the mornlg to make sure they were well and then they rang her again just the day before tamerlan died. the day before she said she spoke and i was like always. mommy, everything's fine with
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us. mommy, we're totally fine. mommy, that's what they call her. >> translator: we miss your warmth and your caress. tamerlan said, mommy, i love you. and gentleman car gentlem dzhokhar's voice came from a distance, i love you, too. >> she saw her son on tv and saw him on the nudz for the first time. >> translator: and then for some reason he tells me, this is dzhokhar and tamerlan and points at the screen and says here's tamerlan in the jacket and dzhokhar in the white jacket. and i say, azor, these are the guys with the backpacks. and these photos were shown. this can't be them. i don't know. these are my children.
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and then he dwri grabbed the tvn and started screaming. you it can't be happening. i don't believe it. children are dead. i would have shot myself. >> reporter: now, wolf, really you get the feeling of disbelief there. two interesting phone calls, the mother reaching out to her two sons in the wake of the boston bombing and then telling her they were far enough away from the bombing and then calling her the day before the shootout that killed their tamerlan, the older alleged boston bomber and saying, mother, we love you. talking about how they miss her tender embrace. so really a distinct picture there of a family continuing almost in their conversation as though nothing had changed until that fateful friday when tamerlan was shot down. wolf? >> nick continuing to investigate this part of the story in russia.
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thanks very much. boston falls silent marking the moment of the attacks exactly one week later. we're going to show you the emotional tribute. that's next. at tyco integrated security, we consider ourselves business optimizers. how? by building custom security solutions that integrate video, access control, fire and intrusion protection. all backed up with world-class monitoring centers, thousands of qualified technicians, and a personal passion to help protect your business.
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here in boston and around the country, everyone stopped today at 2:50 p.m. eastern to mark the moment when dozens of lives were shattered one week ago. here's cnn's lisa sylvester. >> reporter: sometimes grief has no words.
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2:50 p.m., exactly one week on the massachusetts state house steps. to the new york stock exchange. to the senate floor in washington. on ordinary streets, to the marathon route instead of cheers and smiles of a runner crossing the finish line, there is silence. to the flowers and flags. the signs of boston strong. to the spot where last week two bombs took three lives. to replace where the quiet can say more than words kefer say. for one long minute the country is silent and remembers and begins to heal. and when the moment is over, there is this. ♪ god bless america
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and that singing, wolf, was actually a spontaneous moment. one other thing in many parts of the boston, that was supposed to be a minute of silence. it stretched on for five or six or even seven minutes. here in washington, president obama observed the moment of silence as well behind closed doors away from the cameras, wolf. >> it was a powerful moment for all of us here in boston, lisa. i'm sure around the country as well. thank you. for the first time since the boston bombings, the city has control now over boylston street. they're not far way from where i am right now. the site of the attack. the fbi made the handover less than two hours ago and there was a ceremony to mark the moment. watch this. [ bagpipes play ]